Fred Ajudua has been standing
trial before the court over allegations of fraud to the tune of over $1.5
billion but has refused to attend the trial since four years ago after being
granted bail by the trial judge, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole.
The judge issued a warrant
for his arrest since then but police authorities were unable to produce him in
court, prompting unending adjournments in the matter.
Fred Ajudua appeared in court
Tuesday with a request for bail since the court had revoked the earlier one he
was granted.
Justice Oyewole, however,
turned down the hearing of the request and instead made an order that he should
be remanded in prison pending the hearing of the bail application.
Making the order, the judge
said: “The first defendant ceased to be on bail since December 15, 2006 when
his bail was revoked. The case has been held up as the agents of the Federal
Government of Nigeria have been unable to execute the warrant of arrest issued
on January 24, 2005.
“The first defendant is
hereby ordered to be remanded in prison. The Superintendent of Prison shall
ensure that the accused is given unrestricted access to medical treatment
including being taken to LUTH as an out patient when occasions demand.”
The matter was subsequently
adjourned till 24 June, 2013 for the hearing of the bail application.
Ajudua’s name is frequently
linked with advance-fee fraud. Ajudua views himself as a sort of folk hero or
Robin Hood, getting money out
of gullible westerners in repayment for colonial mistreatment.
Ajudua studied law and
graduated from the University of Benin, Edo State.
In October 2003, Alhaji Nuhu
Ribadu, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said
that Ajudua had twelve cases pending against him, including an advance fee
fraud of 1.6 million Euros and another of $1.5 million, both committed in 2001.
He was accused of collecting money from Nelson Allen, a Canadian who lost
$250,000. A German was said to have lost $350,000 to him. He was also said to
have tricked more than $1.69million out of two Dutch nationals between 1999 and
2000.
In year 2000 he was reported
as having served five years of prison at Kirikiri and Agodi.
On 26 July, 2005 the German
woman, Frieda Springer-Beck, agreed to an out-of-court settlement after a long
series of inconclusive court appearances dating back to 1993.
Ajudua was granted bail to
seek medical attention in India on 3 February 2005. Hearing that he was back in
Nigeria, the EFCC attempted to arrest him on 20 March, 2007 at a beer parlour
in Ibusa. The move was thwarted by armed thugs.
In 2007, the Administrative
Panel of Inquiry on Reports of Alleged Corrupt Practices recommended that
Ajudua’s wife should not run for political office on the basis of an EFCC
report that she had been involved in a conspiracy to obtain $7.85m and N3
million under false pretence and had used money from fraudsters to campaign for
election, although the panel noted that there was no direct evidence linking
her to the activities of her husband.
Source: PMNews
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